Faith, Trust & Puzzle Dust

February 9, 2013March 23, 2020 / Ally Bean / 14 Comments

WHILE working on a jigsaw puzzle with her husband, she was asked whether or not she had got all the puzzle pieces with blue on them together into one pile.

She replied: Yes.

WHEN it was pointed out to her that there were about 20 more puzzle pieces with blue on them that she had not put into the pile, she thought hard about this.

Then she said: Some is like All, only Less– and Easier.

AND then, having faith that she had explained herself clearly, she walked away from the dining room table, trusting that she had done her bit for this project. Needing to put distance between herself and those 1000 dusty puzzle pieces. Wondering why she said that she’d help with this stupid puzzle to begin with.

[Images of puzzle from Jig Zone. This particular puzzle is here.]

2 Movies, 2 Books & 1 New Mantra

February 5, 2013May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 19 Comments

As part of my attempt to live a more balanced life in 2013, I have given myself the assignment to watch 2 movies and to read 2 books each month. This is more difficult for me to do than you might imagine, but I’m giving it my best shot. Here is my January report.

2 Movies

Hachi, A Dog’s Tale – Delightful. The story of a college professor, the stray dog he found on a train platform and loyalty that goes on forever. Highly recommended if you like Richard Gere, fables and house porn. {have tissues nearby}

The Queen of Versailles – Compelling & whacked. This is a documentary about a ditzy woman and her billionaire husband who set out to build the largest residence in USA. Can you say conspicuous consumption? Can you say bad judgement? Can you say slobs? Highly recommended because, well– Whiskey Tango Foxtrot— you’ve never seen anything like this.

2 Books

13, rue Thérèse – Fascinating. On the surface, this is a novel about a college professor who finds a box filled with letter, photos and personal objects. He decides to document each item and to research the timeframe from which the objects came. What makes this novel so unique is that the author, Elena Maui Shapiro, who lived in an apartment building in Paris when she was a girl, inherited the objects when an older woman in the building died. Using these objects as a starting point, the author wrote this novel. Recommended if you like history and the idea that nothing is quite as it seems.

The Buddha Walks Into A Bar – Informative. It’s been a long time since I read a book about religion. This one, written by Lodro Rinzler, is quietly funny, well-researched and difficult to put down. I hesitate to call it personal development, but I suppose that’s the genre it fits in. I read it more as a refresher course on Buddhism than a how-to guide. Recommended if you’re feeling the need to think about life from a different point of view and be mindful.

1 New Mantra

A friend’s second grade daughter came home from school with a long, involved story about playground intrigue. My friend, who was making dinner as she listened to the story, said that she wasn’t absorbing the details. Instead, she was listening to the tone-of-voice. Eventually her daughter stopped talking and my friend realized that she needed to say something Mom-like. So she asked her daughter what she thought about all that had happened and her daughter, with a sigh, summed it up with: “People are silly.”

No truer words, my little one. And a perfect mantra about relationships, if you ask me.

The Tale Of The Lonely Beet

January 29, 2013January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 22 Comments

Once upon a time the Lady of the House went to the grocery where she purchased some beets. She was going to roast them and serve them as a side dish with some ham for dinner.

:: The Lady of the House had good intentions.

However, when the Lady of the House came home from the grocery, she put the beets in a stainless steel bowl which she put in the frig. Then, she forgot about their existence.

Because the beets were well-mannered, they did not call attention to themselves in the frig. No, they just sat in the bowl and slowly allowed mold to cover them. Perhaps they were cold and considered the mold to be like a sweater. Perhaps they were content and enjoyed connecting with the mold.

:: We will never know for sure.

All we know is that the next time the Lady of the House looked at the beets she saw six moldy, dried out vegetables that were way past their prime. Upon seeing what had happened, the Lady of the House said a few words that will not be repeated on these pages.

But the Lady of the House had another idea for the beets. You see, the Lady of the House’s mother had a saying which she said to the Lady of the House when the Lady of the House was a girl.

:: And this saying was: waste not, want not.

Remembering what her mother had told her to do, the Lady of the House decided to toss the beets into the wooded ravine behind her house. The Lady of the House thought that some of the deer or raccoons that live back there might like to feast on said beets.

:: However, she was wrong about this assumption.

A few days later when the Lady of the House chanced to look outside upon her backyard realm, she noticed that all the beets were still there. And that one beet in particular, that had the misfortune of landing on top of a concrete wall instead of on the ground, was positioned in such a way as to create a perfect photo-op.

So, the Lady of the House, who also happened to be a blogger extraordinaire, grabbed her camera. Then she went outside and took one of the best artsy-farsty photos she has ever taken. Not wanting to let this photo go to waste, the Lady of the House figured she could put this photo on her blog, tell her readers how this beet came to be so alone, and call it a blog post.

:: And that is exactly what she did. The end.

Good Morning, Darling

January 24, 2013January 9, 2017 / Ally Bean / 19 Comments

Zen-Den needed to get up earlier than usual to go to work. He set his alarm clock, but I didn’t hear it go off. He heard it and went into the bathroom to shower and shave. While he was in the shower I woke up. I often wake up early, so it was no big deal for me to get up. I went into the bathroom where he was now shaving. The following conversation ensued.

# # #

Him: Was it the noise from the light that woke you up?

Me: No, it was the light from the water running through the faucet that did it.

Him: Oh good. I didn’t want to bother you.

Me: Hmm… *smile*

{a minute of silence}

Him: What did you say? How did the light from the water running through the faucet wake you up?

Me: It woke me up because the noise from the light didn’t. *snicker*

Him: Oh.

{30 seconds later}

Him: What are you talking about???

Me: I’m talking about why I got up.